Wine Spectator

There are a few spots left at Thursday night's Casanova di Neri wine dinner at Aldo's. The dinner celebrates the re-release of the Brunello Tenuta Nuova 2007 from Casanova di Neri. A small, family company run by Giacomo Neri, Casanova di Neri has only 48 hectares of planted vineyards. In 2006, the Wine Spectator named their Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova 2001 the world's top wine, calling it "one of the best examples of the recent winemaking renaissance in Tuscany. " If that sounds like something you'd like to sip, give Aldo's a call.

There are a few spots left at Thursday night's Casanova di Neri wine dinner at Aldo's. The dinner celebrates the re-release of the Brunello Tenuta Nuova 2007 from Casanova di Neri. A small, family company run by Giacomo Neri, Casanova di Neri has only 48 hectares of planted vineyards. In 2006, the Wine Spectator named their Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova 2001 the world's top wine, calling it "one of the best examples of the recent winemaking renaissance in Tuscany. " If that sounds like something you'd like to sip, give Aldo's a call.

Elsewhere Robert Morrisey, 78, whose love of wine was initiated by his doctor's advice and grew into a passion that inspired him to create The Wine Spectator publication, died March 26 of congestive heart failure in San Diego. He was also a former Marine Corps major and one-time wine columnist for the San Diego Evening Tribune. He was a casual drinker of martinis in the late 1960s when his doctor suggested he switch to wine for health reasons. The popular response to his newspaper columns of the early 1970s led him to create a 12-page tabloid newsletter in 1976, The Wine Spectator, which went on to become America's top-selling wine publication.

Elsewhere Robert Morrisey, 78, whose love of wine was initiated by his doctor's advice and grew into a passion that inspired him to create The Wine Spectator publication, died March 26 of congestive heart failure in San Diego. He was also a former Marine Corps major and one-time wine columnist for the San Diego Evening Tribune. He was a casual drinker of martinis in the late 1960s when his doctor suggested he switch to wine for health reasons. The popular response to his newspaper columns of the early 1970s led him to create a 12-page tabloid newsletter in 1976, The Wine Spectator, which went on to become America's top-selling wine publication.

Growers cringe at the prospect of a frost or, worse yet, a hard freeze that decimates a field of delicate lettuce or a grove of orange trees in a matter of hours. Yet, in certain vineyards in Austria, Germany, Canada and even Connecticut, winemakers deliberately leave grapes on the vine after the fall harvest and wait for freezing temperatures. Frozen grapes are the first step in making ice wine, or eiswein, as it is called in Germany, where the practice originated in the late 1700s. The process results in a golden, sweet but not cloying vintage.

The Critic's Choice for this week is the non-vintage Dimetane-DC, which offers an excellent concentration of sweet black cherry flavors even though it's a bit deficient in alcohol.The codeine does soothe the throat, however.Yes, there's nothing like a stretch of bronchitis to mess up some finely drawn tasting plans. There's something about a high fever and a raspy throat that diminishes the appeal of a hearty Rhone just a tad.Still, such a condition is ideal for sitting in bed concocting cranky opinions about wine.

WASHINGTON -- America's chief food scold understands that there are times when you just shut up, sit down and eat. At a window table at the Tomate Bistro Italiano on Connecticut Avenue, Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, understands this means you don't talk about the pea soup's salt content, nor the fact that the pasta serving easily exceeds government standards by a factor of two. Never mind the...

Three Maryland restaurants have won the Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence for the first time this year: Foster's Restaurant and Wine Bar in Fells Point, the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels and Stone Manor Inn in Middleton. They join a list of 17 others in Maryland.* Benny's, Benny Gordon's jazz supper club at 25th and North Charles streets, is open for lunch now from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.* One of my favorite little Italian eateries, Rosalia's in Lutherville, has closed.

NEW YORK -- It wasn't only wine that drew more than 1,000 people to New York last weekend for the 10th anniversary of the Wine Spectator's Wine Experience, a four-day whirl of swirling, sniffing, socializing, smiling, plus some discreet spitting.The occasion, which brings together wine makers and wine aficionados, while contributing scholarships to students in the food and beverage industry, commenced on Thursday evening at the Marriott Marquis with a wine tasting and concluded Monday afternoon with a batch of classes called Lifestyle Seminars.

By ELIZABETH LARGE and ELIZABETH LARGE,elizabeth.large@baltsun.com | September 3, 2008

From the way eating places are opening up along Harford Road in the Hamilton/Lauraville neighborhoods, you would think every chef in the region had moved to the area and decided to open a restaurant or tavern there. This section of Harford has become a restaurant row to rival any in Baltimore, with Clementine (new this spring), Chameleon Cafe, Big Bad Wolf's House of Barbeque, the Alabama BBQ Company, Koco's Pub and Zeke's Coffee being among the best at what they do in the city. "It's a convergence of several things," says Lorrie Schoettler, executive director of the Neighborhoods of Lauraville.

Growers cringe at the prospect of a frost or, worse yet, a hard freeze that decimates a field of delicate lettuce or a grove of orange trees in a matter of hours. Yet, in certain vineyards in Austria, Germany, Canada and even Connecticut, winemakers deliberately leave grapes on the vine after the fall harvest and wait for freezing temperatures. Frozen grapes are the first step in making ice wine, or eiswein, as it is called in Germany, where the practice originated in the late 1700s. The process results in a golden, sweet but not cloying vintage.

WASHINGTON -- America's chief food scold understands that there are times when you just shut up, sit down and eat. At a window table at the Tomate Bistro Italiano on Connecticut Avenue, Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, understands this means you don't talk about the pea soup's salt content, nor the fact that the pasta serving easily exceeds government standards by a factor of two. Never mind the...

Three Maryland restaurants have won the Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence for the first time this year: Foster's Restaurant and Wine Bar in Fells Point, the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels and Stone Manor Inn in Middleton. They join a list of 17 others in Maryland.* Benny's, Benny Gordon's jazz supper club at 25th and North Charles streets, is open for lunch now from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.* One of my favorite little Italian eateries, Rosalia's in Lutherville, has closed.

The Critic's Choice for this week is the non-vintage Dimetane-DC, which offers an excellent concentration of sweet black cherry flavors even though it's a bit deficient in alcohol.The codeine does soothe the throat, however.Yes, there's nothing like a stretch of bronchitis to mess up some finely drawn tasting plans. There's something about a high fever and a raspy throat that diminishes the appeal of a hearty Rhone just a tad.Still, such a condition is ideal for sitting in bed concocting cranky opinions about wine.

Hallelujah! With the arrival of the 1990 vintage in the marketplace, it's safe to drink California cabernet sauvignon again.It's been a depressing couple of years for cabernet partisans. The 1988 and 1989 vintages were woefully inconsistent, and the wines have been flying off the shelf about as briskly as Beta VCRs. Some past vintages, notably 1984 and 1986, haven't been aging all that gracefully. And all the really cool winemakers were getting into zinfandel or syrah or sangiovese.The 1990s will change all that.

By Elizabeth Large and Elizabeth Large,SUN RESTAURANT CRITIC | October 29, 1998

Pretty soon Annapolis will have more new Irish pubs than Dublin. Castlebay - a pub and restaurant - opened last week at 193A Main St. It features a menu ranging from fish and chips for $8.50 and shepherd's pie for $8.95 to a "rainmaker steak," an individually cooked prime rib, for $25.95.Other specialties include a pan-seared fillet wrapped in puff pastry with a horseradish-leek salsa, pecan chicken, prime rib, crab cakes and seafood primavera.Irish-born owner Vincent Quinlan says Castlebay will also be brewing a couple of house ales, although it won't be a full-fledged brew pub.On the horizon are two other Irish pubs, Galway Bay, which should open on State Circle in the next couple of months, and a not-yet-named restaurant scheduled to open next spring on West Street.